Sunday, January 31, 2010

STAR CASTLES

John Travolta's castle surprises me -- it's so complicated and fancy looking. He's always seemed like a down-to-earth guy who works at his craft, not someone who needs to tell the world that he's a big star. Maybe the airplanes parked on his lawn in front of their hangers is why the Travolta palace seems too too huge.

Billy Joel's palace looks like an apartment house, or a business building. It's too close to his neighbors. I can't imagine what all the windows are for, unless it's three floors, an upper and lower window on each floor. I wouldn't want to live there.

Halle Berry's castle looks like it belongs next to Billy Joel's. It's not charming, it's just large. It's too close to the neighbors. At least her upper porch looks comfortable and has a homey feeling.

The Oprah Winfrey castle -- wow -- it's ostentatiously large and old-fashioned looking. It's odd, because Oprah bends over backward to be everyone's friend, and not a queen. How do you take care of a castle that size? She probably has at least 4 servants, and provides living places for them.

Hugh Heffner's mansion is a palace, home to quite a few live-in "bunny" girl friends, according to all the publicity. I like the huge tree in front of it. I like the lived-in look of his place. But I wouldn't want to live there and be another girl among the girls. .

Eddie Murphy -- why oh why does he have such a sprawlingly large place? It could be a hotel resort. Maybe it's for sleep-over parties. The vastness of it certainly says Eddie Murphy has, or had a lot of money . Where does Eddie live, and sleep?

Sylvester Stallone's castle looks more like a home, than the other palaces. It's huge, and sprawling but I like the lived-in look of it.

HOW I GOT HERE

I started out as a modern dancer, contemporary, but balletic. I didn't want to be a swan, or a barefoot dancer. I wanted to dance to the music that thrilled me as a child, and made me want to be a dancer.

I began writing in the truck my first husband, Mark Ryder and I bought, in order to carry our set, props, and costumes for a long one-night-stands tour -- eighty-eighty performances in eighty-eight cities.

We were performing "Romeo and Juliet" nightly, but our marriage was breaking up. Every day while our stage manager drove us two-hundred miles or so to the next booking, I'd type a detailed description of last night -- what we did well, what we argued about, and a travelogue about the town, and comments from the people at the nightly party.

Recovering from the trip and the divorce, I sent my "car book" to a friend who said -- "Em, it's great,but ..." And that became rewrites, and another book. Then, my marriage to actor John Cullum, and then a play that got produced, and another book, big hopes because a famous agent loved it.The title and concept changed five times -- now it's been published, finally, as "Somebody, Woman of the Century." You can buy it, or read about it and my other five novels on Emily Frankel.com